[foldr]

Hmm, I have astigmatism and have never had to worry about the alignment of my contact lenses in order to get good correction. Perhaps they are somehow engineered so that they automatically settle in the correct orientation.

Edit: Answer here, by the looks of it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41237519

[_yb2s]

It is much more likely that your astigmatism is very mild, and your optometrist decided not to correct it, and corrected only the myopia. This is common because toric contacts are more expensive, more difficult to put in, less breathable, and fall out easier.

As a longtime user of toric contacts, I have tried a dozen brands and every single one has the exact same mark. The shape will keep them from moving out of orientation, but it isn't enough to put them back into orientation if put in wrong, at least not quickly.

Care to share exactly what contacts you are using? Do you have astigmatism in one or both eyes? If it is toric and for astigmatism it will say so on the box- many people have it in only one eye, so the boxes will be different, and only one will say toric.

If you really are using toric contacts, but not aligning the mark, I am willing to bet you will be able to find the mark, align it properly, and your vision will be remarkably better.

Edit: One reason you absolutely need the mark is because the optometrist also needs to be able to tell if they are staying in orientation like they're supposed to, by visually checking the alignment mark. It needs to point straight upwards (vertical). If not, they can prescribe you one that is made pre-rotated to compensate.

[foldr]

No, my prescription is for astigmatism, and my contacts are contacts specifically for astigmatism. In my experience, they orient themselves (and indeed I have never had to worry about their orientation).

I have never previously thought about this in terms of rotation (as I was not even aware that the contact lenses were asymmetrical), but I do normally have to blink a few times after inserting the contact lens before I have sharp vision. But in my experience it takes a few seconds for this to happen and does not depend on inserting the lens at any particular orientation.

I have glasses too, so I would notice if the contact lenses were giving me significantly worse vision!

The brand is '1 Day Acuvue Moist for Astigmatism'.

[_yb2s]

It might be different for different people, but if I don't align mine, it takes more than a few blinks to align them. I think they will eventually but it could be a very long time (hours?)

[kevin_thibedeau]

The marks aren't the same across brands. Some have three dashes with two oriented horizontal and one up. Others have two equal dashes (My axis was 90° at the time). Others have two with unequal length.

[therein]

I have astigmatism and toric lenses never worked well for me. I could feel them rotate in my eye and they would never settle perfectly. This was back in 2006, though. And they weren't bad contacts either, they were ordered from Switzerland, allegedly custom made etc. I tried for a few weeks, they never worked well. Every ten blinks or so I'd get blurry vision.

[_yb2s]

You should try again, I've been wearing them since before that time, and they are much better now than they used to be.

[Scoundreller]

Probably just need a fitting with a different brand.

A lot of times your local distributor doesn't carry many of the astigmatic lenses because they can sit on the shelf for a while (it can 100x the available combinations) so they special order. I doubt they're specially manufactured per order for soft lenses.

[kevin_thibedeau]

Mass produced torics are available up to -8 power. I'd try them again to take advantage of modern design and fabrication improvements.